Review of The Scarlet Empress (1934) by Art S — 18 Oct 2011

My, there seem to be a lot of shots of horses and references to horses (even one early line, "we could have the horses stabled in your bedroom, if you like" or something like that, which is shocking taken out of context, as it is here) in von Sternberg's biopic about Catherine the Great (really, even at the end, Marlene Dietrich is on the throne with her arm around a horse who is nuzzling her).

But of course von Sternberg couldn't have been fooling with the Hays Office censors, could he? The rest of the movie simply focuses on how Catherine uses her sexual resources to get the army to help her overthrow her imbecilic husband, Peter the III.

So, in 1934, the censors weren't paying much attention. And von Sternberg shoots Dietrich through gauze, on beds, amongst crazy statuary, and in front of mock Russian icons, with characters who don't care that they have heavy American accents, with the 1812 overture playing during the 1750s, and just makes a crazy baroque thing.